Pakistan faced an early exit from the T20 World Cup after losing two consecutive matches against India and Zimbabwe. While the Babar Azam-led side suffered a crushing defeat against India, their match against Zimbabwe was also decided on the last ball, with the side suffering a one-run defeat. Despite restricting the Zimbabwean side to 130/8, Pakistan endured a middle-order collapse as they fell short in the chase.
After the defeat, Pakistan cricketers were heavily criticized by fans and former cricketers, and in the pre-match conference before the match against Holland, a journalist asked whether Pakistan were taking Zimbabwe “lightly”.
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“Haris, the national team of Zimbabwe, or the Netherlands. Please rate me. Zaahir hai, unko relax liya aur 130 bhi nahi ho saka. Netherlands ke khilaaf kis tarah se khelenge? Ruthless Cricket Helen? (In terms of rating, neither Zimbabwe nor Holland is a strong team. We relaxed a little against Pakistan and did not get even 130 points. How do you perceive the game against the Netherlands?), the journalist asked.
However, Haris Rauf had a very simple caveat about this. The fast bowler said that no team is weak when it comes to ICC tournaments and the players give 100 per cent irrespective of the opponent.
“Dekhein aapne baat ki, Zimbabwean people team hai. Koi bhi tournament khelne aae, wo halka nahi hota. Koi bhi international game khel rahe hain, vo bhi ussi mindset se aaye hain ki hamein World Cup jeetna hai. Ham kisi ko halka nahi keh sakte, ya yeh nahi keh sakte ki wo achhi team hai ya nahi hai. (Look, you said Zimbabwe is not a strong team. It’s not. We’re playing an international match, and everyone’s thinking is to win the World Cup. We can’t take anybody lightly, we can say ‘this team is good or this team is not I can’t,” said Haris.
“Netherlands ya Zimbabwe se match ho, ya kisi se bhi ho, ham apna 100 percent dene ki koshish karte hain. Unfortunately, I like the result. Zimbabwe jeti, wo achha khele. Agle match jiske saath Bhi Hain, Ham apna best denge. (Whether it’s Netherlands, Zimbabwe or whoever, we have to give our 100 percent. Unfortunately, the result against Zimbabwe was not in our favor, they played well. But we will give our best in the upcoming matches),” the Pakistani fast bowler. he continued.